Evps are my favorite part of investigating and I've caught some amazing Class 1 voices over the years. The team I'm in prefer not to edit the raw audio at all and believe that if we have to manipulate it it's not acceptable as possible evidence. The thing is that lately (in one location) I'm getting a number of evps which are so faint or there are noises over them so that although I know they are there (and heard the response at the time) my team will not accept them. Does anyone use audio software that can remove or enhance layers or amplify a voice but not the rest of the noise? (Once I work out how to put evps on this page I'll share some of mine with you as they are clear as a bell).

KiwiladyKiwilady

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul

Evps are my favorite part of investigating and I've caught some amazing Class 1 voices over the years. The team I'm in prefer not to edit the raw audio at all and believe that if we have to manipulate it it's not acceptable as possible evidence. The thing is that lately (in one location) I'm getting a number of evps which are so faint or there are noises over them so that although I know they are there (and heard the response at the time) my team will not accept them. Does anyone use audio software that can remove or enhance layers or amplify a voice but not the rest of the noise? (Once I work out how to put evps on this page I'll share some of mine with you as they are clear as a bell).

There is a fine line in enhancing and cooking an audio file and unfortunately many paranormal audio technicians go overboard with noise reduction software and turn a viable sample into something entirely different. Part of the difficulty remains with the snippet being buried very deep in the noise floor. Once you begin introducing hiss & noise reduction software in attempt to reduce the noise floor, the attributes are changed.

I'd highly recommend using Adobe Audition but I am partial to it for several reasons. I learned how to enhance and analyze fairly quickly but the spectral frequency window made is much less time consuming in identification. EVP/AVP have their own unique fingerprint with flat vocal banding residing between 100-300 Hz. There are exceptions of course with some found above 20,000 Hz but those are rare.

Another choice would be Audacity a freeware that is cross platformed for both Mac and Windows but it does not have a spectral frequency display.

I worked over at Haunted Voices for several years as an EVP instructor and specialist and was fortunate at one time to be part of Adobe Audition beta testing program. I'm still using version 3.0 which is now aged but parts of the modules were written for EVP analysis.

Here's a sample of one of the most common EVP's found. Pushing this sample any further would have introduced a robotic sound. This was an extremely quiet capture when recorded. It's purposely looped three times. I recommend not to over listen to single snippets or you will be exposed to cognitive bias quickly.

You might want to download for free Sarah Estep's first book called Voices of Eternity. Sarah was one of three EVP pioneers who formed the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-EVP) now called Association TransCommunication - ATransC the largest organization of its type in the world. Sarah collected 20,000 samples throughout her audio exploration. This book will give you several ideas in methodology and help you understand the world wide accepted ABC classification system.

Other good reads can be from from Friedrich Jürgenson the father of EVP and Konstantin Raudive.

Thanks for your reply EVP. I am very aware that it is very easy to cook an evp to make it sound almost unrecognizable when compared to the original and definitely do not want do that. I have a series of evps where I heard a child answer my questions (through headphones) and these were captured on my audio recorder. I can hear them clearly but when I transfer them off my recorder onto Soundcloud to share with others the voice is lost to most listeners. I know what I heard on the night and can hear it but just need a way to enhance the voice to share these audio clips. I have about 6 or 7 and these were taken over several visits to the site we were investigating. I have used Audiacity but found that that was not altogether successful and was hoping for advice on software that can recognize voices of all the people in the room, take layers of sound out ect, but will definately take a look at Adobe Audition. I am familiar with Sarah Esteps work and also that of Jurgenson and Raudive having given talks on the history of evp and how to go about collecting them to paranormal enthusiasts here in New Zealand.

KiwiladyKiwilady

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul

Thanks for your reply EVP. I am very aware that it is very easy to cook an evp to make it sound almost unrecognizable when compared to the original and definitely do not want do that. I have a series of evps where I heard a child answer my questions (through headphones) and these were captured on my audio recorder. I can hear them clearly but when I transfer them off my recorder onto Soundcloud to share with others the voice is lost to most listeners. I know what I heard on the night and can hear it but just need a way to enhance the voice to share these audio clips. I have about 6 or 7 and these were taken over several visits to the site we were investigating. I have used Audiacity but found that that was not altogether successful and was hoping for advice on software that can recognize voices of all the people in the room, take layers of sound out ect, but will definately take a look at Adobe Audition. I am familiar with Sarah Esteps work and also that of Jurgenson and Raudive having given talks on the history of evp and how to go about collecting them to paranormal enthusiasts here in New Zealand.

The software to recognize voices throughout the room would be difficult or too expensive to buy. Voice recognition is almost exclusive to law enforcement agencies. Although audacity is a decent freeware audio program it has severe limitations retaining vocal characteristics with the filtering they provide. Audition with its multi-band compressor and amplification process offers far more latitude that Audacity. Noise and hiss reduction is also superior, without question.

Another part of the equation is how the original sound file was recorded. Far too often low bit rates and inferior microphone sensitivity bury the snippet in the noise floor. Finding the sweet spot to work on a snippet buried in the noise floor becomes exceedingly difficult at times. Low bit rate files also complicates separation because of an increased amplitude in the noise floor extending much higher into the frequencies.

One of my best captures was heard live. The voice of female was loud enough to wake me while I was on the verge of sleep. It was loud and articulate. You could clearly hear my first and last name called out. Once reviewed, it became obvious the snippet was buried deeply in the noise floor and did not hold the same clarity. I had the recorder on its highest settings but most recorders are not meant to sample at 100 Hz without noise introduced.

I know this is not going to help in this situation, but just a little reminder. I control my audio sessions and ensure there is no need to monitor other people voices. I typically run one session an hour, 10 minutes passive and 10 minutes with a Q&A during a full fledge investigation. Controlling ambient noise and external voices is imperative. It took me some time to learn proper controls during recording sessions best administered by the audio technician. This came at an expense, I threw out many audio sessions along the way.

Lastly, if the capture is strong enough, Audition offers spectral frequency analysis aiding in identifying an anomalous. Anomalous snippets have a fingerprint that is identifiable to a human voice exhibiting usually low frequency between 100-300 Hz. More importantly, these snippets have extremely flat vocal banding that the human voice does not possess characteristically. Audacity does not have that capability of visually recognizing this.